Should St. Landry School Board try again on property taxes that voters rejected in March?

St. Landry School Board members continue to discuss placing proposed property taxes on the ballot in 2023 to fund salaries, maintenance and new schools.

One of the proposed taxes reviewed this week during a series of committee meetings is the renewal of a 15.37-mill parish-wide maintenance and salary proposition that school officials say is crucial for the continued overall functioning of the district.

A second potential property tax collected within a newly-created special taxing district would generate additional funding for proposed new facilities in the Opelousas is also being considered.

No action has been taken on the tax proposals with members still stinging from an overwhelming defeat of a school tax in March.

That tax proposal defeat followed another placed before voters in 2018 that asked property owners for additional revenues that would fund new schools and employees’ salaries.

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Bonding attorney Eric Lafleur told board members Tuesday night the parish-wide tax on the books that generates $13 million annually for maintenance and salaries is not scheduled for renewal until 2025.

Lafleur told board members during a committee conference call state law allows the district to hold a renewal election prior to the actual expiration date of the maintenance tax.

During a Daily World interview school district finance director Tressa Miller said property taxes have continued to fund maintenance and employees’ salaries for the past 10 years.

Miller estimated that 4.37 mills of the tax are dedicated for maintenance, while 11 mills are used to fund salaries.

“Both of these taxes are necessary to keep the system operating," Miller said. "It’s very important that the voters understand that.”

Lafleur suggested that the earliest time for the parish tax renewal election is one of two election dates scheduled by the state during 2023.

“One of those would be March 25, while the other is April 29," he said. "The other two dates for later that year are Oct. 14 and Nov. 18.”

In April board members agreed to create a special property taxing district affecting home owners who send children to schools in Opelousas.

The boundaries of the district additionally include a segment of property owners who live outside the city but send children to Opelousas’ Grolee Elementary and Opelousas Junior High.

Some board members considered Nov. 8 as a possible date for holding the first election inside the taxing district, but during a May meeting Lafleur said the St. Landry Parish Assessor’s Office was having difficulty identifying some of the land parcels that would be used for taxation.

The issue of exact property identification made it impossible for the assessor’s office to ascertain an estimate of special taxing district property values in time for placement on the ballot in 2022.

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Lafleur indicated during conversations with board members that there are still some questions about which properties would be included for taxing purposes inside the taxing district.

Some of the properties were split, Lafleur said, meaning portions of land parcels owned by the same person were inside the district, while other parts of the land tracts were located outside the district.

“The assessor’s office was still identifying the boundary lines and parcels that could have been split," Lafleur said. "They wanted to make sure all the boundaries were taken care of. We were waiting on information from the assessor.”

Lafleur said during the past few weeks it has become apparent that enough information on the district boundaries and land tracts is available from the assessor.

He said it's possible all the parcel assignments for the special taxing district will be available for a July 7 meeting.